2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® At-Large Men's & Women's Teams release dates:
College Division Teams: LINK
NCAA Division III Teams: below
NCAA Division II Teams: Wed., June 8
NCAA Division I Teams: Thr., June 9
• Academic All-America® website
• Academic All-America® At-Large Teams - Division III
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AUSTIN, TEXAS – Senior fencer Glenn Balbus of Johns Hopkins and senior swimmer Margaret Guo of MIT headline the 2016 Academic All-America® Division III At-Large Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
A senior mechanical engineering major from New Fairfield, Connecticut with a 4.0 grade-point average, Balbus was named the Men’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year. The CoSIDA Women’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year, Guo is an electrical engineering and computer science major with a 4.0 G.P.A. from San Diego, California. Both earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team honors for the second straight year.
The CoSIDA Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.
The first fencer in Johns Hopkins history to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, Balbus was a three-year captain for the JHU fencing team, finishingwith 247 career wins, tied for 12th in school history among all weapons. His 237 foil wins are tied for seventh in program history in the category. He is 28th in school history in career winning percentage (.704) among all weapons, and 10th in foil winning percentage (.705).
Balbus earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and is a Rhodes Scholar finalist. He received numerous Johns Hopkins awards, was the team captain for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life program, and serves as a volunteer wheelchair fencing coach and a volunteer tutor for STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools. He served as a research assistant and teaching assistant in the JHU Department of Mechanical Engineering, and has completed four prestigious internships during college.
Margaret Guo (MIT) and Glenn Balbus (Johns Hopkins)
Also a recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, Guo earned four All-American honors in relay events -- 400 medley, 400 freestyle, 200 medley and 200 freestyle -- at the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, while also qualifying as an individual for the first time in her career. The NCAA Elite 89 Award-winner at the 2015 NCAA championships, she received an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award from “Diverse: Issues in Higher Education” magazine.
Guo is a Rhodes Scholar finalist and Goldwater Scholar, and serves as the school’s president of the Society of Women Engineers, while also serving as a tutor and executive team member of Eta Kappa Nu. She has researched endometriosis in the school’s Griffith Lab and conducted a SuperUROP in the MIT Computational Physiology and Clinical Inference Group.
Among the 45 student-athletes of each gender selected to the Division III Academic All-America® At-Large teams, 10 men and 16 women carry 4.0 or better grade-point averages. The 15 members of the men’s at-large first team carry an average G.P.A. of 3.60, while the 15 members of the women’s at-large team carry an average G.P.A. of 3.94.
Twelve men and 15 women are repeat CoSIDA Academic All-America® selections. Five men and five women earned their third straight CoSIDA Academic All-America® selections.
Two women’s swimmers have now earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team honors three years in a row -- Clare Slagel of Luther and Haley Townsend of Kenyon. Slagel is a senior biology major with a 3.92 G.P.A. from Dubuque, Iowa, while Townsend is a senior international studies major with a 3.95 G.P.A. from Greenwood, Indiana.
Slagel is an eight-time NCAA Division III All-American in her career, capturing national titles in the 100-yard backstroke in 2015 and 200-yard backstroke in 2014. This season, she competed in three events at the national championships, earning second-place honors in the 100-yard backstroke, while finishing ninth in the 200-yard backstroke and competing in the 500-yard freestyle. She is a four-time All-American in the 100-yard backstroke, never finishing lower than fourth in national competition.
A 16-time NCAA All-American, Townsend was part of a fifth-place 400-yard medley relay squad at this season’s national championships, an event that earned her national title honors in 2013. The NCAA Elite 89 Award-winner in women’s swimming in 2014, she received Kenyon’s 2016 International Studies Award. She is also an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and will travel to Turkey to work as a Fulbright English teaching assistant later this year.
Two athletes earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team honors for the second straight year, after earning second-team honors their sophomore seasons -- women’s swimmer Elizabeth Aronoff of Emory and men’s tennis player Matthew Heinrich of Stevens Tech. Aronoff is a senior neuroscience and behavioral biology major with a 3.92 G.P.A. from Shaker Heights, Ohio, while Heinrich is a senior mechanical engineering major with a 4.00 G.P.A. from Hendersonville, Tennessee.
An NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship honoree, Aronoff earned six All-America honors and two national titles in her career, including a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2016 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, helping the Eagles to their seventh straight team national title. She also earned All-America honorable-mention honors with a ninth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. A three-time College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American, she was named Emory’s Scholar-Athlete Award-winner this year.
The Empire 8 Conference’s Male Senior Scholar Athlete of the year, Heinrich was named Stevens Tech’s 2016 Valedictorian. He earned Empire 8 Player of the Year honors all four years of his career, leading the Ducks to four straight conference titles. He earned trips to the NCAA National Championships three times in singles and two times in doubles, reaching the national meet in both this season. He was a national semifinalist in doubles this season, finishing 15-2 in singles and 18-3 in doubles.
Wheaton (Ill.) senior swimmer Kirsten Nitz earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team honors in 2016 and 2014, while earning second-team honors in 2015. A French and applied health science major with a 3.59 G.P.A. from Frankfort, Kentucky, Nitz became the first athlete in Wheaton history to win five individual national championships, when she took the title in the 100-yard butterfly -- her third career title in the event -- at this year’s NCAA National Championships. She also earned All-America honors in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard medley relay, bringing her career total to 13.
Two athletes on this year’s CoSIDA Academic All-America® list moved from third-team honors in their sophomore seasons to second-team honors in their junior years and first-team honors in their senior seasons -- Mount Holyoke women’s swimmer Cathleen Pruden and McDaniel men’s swimmer Brad Brooks. Pruden is a senior psychology and education major from Raleigh, North Carolina, with a 3.97 G.P.A., while Brooks is a senior exercise science major from Newark, Delaware with a 4.00 G.P.A.
A three-time All-American in the 400-yard individual medley, Pruden finished third in the event at this season’s NCAA National Championships, while also finishing 14th in the 200-yard individual medley and 18th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year each of the last two seasons, she earned conference titles eight times in her career. She is a head coordinator and volunteer swim instructor for Project SPLASH! and earned the Mount Holyoke Student Leadership and Service Award in 2016.
An NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient, Brooks was named as the inaugural winner of the Centennial Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award this year. He competed in the 400-yard individual medley, 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle (13th place) at the NCAA National Championships this season, after winning Centennial Conference titles in the 500 free and 1,650 free, while finishing second in the 400 IM. He was named as the NCAA’s Elite 90 winner at this year’s national meet. A three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American, Brooks earned five academic awards at McDaniel’s commencement, including the Argonaut Award, presented to the senior with the highest G.P.A.
Washington & Lee tennis player Michael Holt earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team honors this season, after earning third-team honors each of the past two years. A senior mathematics major with a 4.00 G.P.A. from Henrico, Virginia, Holt went 12-2 at No. 1 singles and 5-8 in No. 1 doubles for the Generals this season, before suffering a season-ending knee injury. A two-time All-American, Holt is tied for fifth in W&L history with 76 doubles wins, while leading the Generals to four straight Old Dominion Athletic Conference titles. He earned ODAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors for the third time in his career in 2016.
Carnegie Mellon tennis player Abhishek Alla earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® second-team honors for the third straight year. A civil and environmental engineering major with a 3.83 G.P.A. from Hyderabad, India, Alla became the second Carnegie Mellon tennis player to reach the NCAA men’s tennis national semifinals, earning his third career All-America honors. He finished his career with an 87-35 singles record, reaching the national tournament three times. A two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete, he has volunteered at Krushi Orphanage, teaching kids tennis while engaging with children during festivals.
Williams swimmer Jake Tamposi earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® second-team honors this season, after earning third-team honors each of the last two years. A senior economics major with a 3.96 G.P.A. from Hernando Beach, Florida, Tamposi earned All-America honors with a second-place finish as part of the 400-yard medley relay at the 2016 NCAA National Championships, while finishing 10th as an individual in the 100-yard breaststroke and 22nd in the 200-yard breaststroke. He helped lead the Ephs to a sixth-place team national finish. He earned the New England Small College Athletic Conference’s Four-Year High Point Swimmer award this season, recording the most points at the NESCAC Championships in a career among the class of 2016. He earned the NCAA Elite 89 Award in men’s swimming in 2014.
Other women’s student-athletes to repeat as CoSIDA Academic All-America® honorees: first-teamers Campbell Costley (Denison, swimming), Megan Wallenhorst (Salisbury, lacrosse), Christine Wright (Clarkson, lacrosse) and Sarah Wright (MIT, rifle), who were second-teamers last year; first-teamer Amy Sebastian (Coe, tennis), who was a third-teamer last year; second-teamers Bridget Balisy (SUNY Plattsburgh, ice hockey) and Maddy Scozzie (SUNY Cortland, gymnastics), who were first-teamers last year; second-teamer Giovanna Senese (SUNY Plattsburgh, ice hockey), who was a second-teamer last year; second-teamers Kristalyn McAfee (Washington-Mo., swimming) and Sofia Vega (Texas Lutheran, tennis), who were third-teamers last year; and third-teamer Brigette Lee (Trinity-Texas, golf), who was a third-teamer last year.
Other men’s student-athletes to repeat as CoSIDA Academic All-America® honorees: first-teamer Jon Zirna (Springfield-Mass., gymnastics), who repeated his first-team honor; first-teamers Andrew Greenhalgh (Johns Hopkins, swimming) and Trevor Manz (Kenyon, swimming), who were second-teamers last year; first-teamers Matthew Conrad (Rose-Hulman, tennis) and Reed Dalton (Washington-Mo., swimming), who were third-teamers last year; and second-teamer Christopher Bradley (Caltech, water polo) and James Jackson (Rensselaer Polytechnic, golf), who were third-teamer last year.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Schwartz, North Dakota State University (Jeff.Schwartz@ndsu.edu) (701) 231-8332
Academic All-America® Co-Vice-Chair for Publicity/Communications
Don Stoner, Augsburg College (stoner@augsburg.edu) (612) 330-1677
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity